Kids’ exposure to betting ads falling

A report by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has revealed that children’s exposure to sports betting advertisements has reached a ten-year low.

The report, which comes after widespread media coverage around the way betting and gambling is marketed, highlights that children saw 40% fewer gambling ads in 2017 than they did in 2013.

The report added that on average children on exposed to 2.8 ads for gambling products a week, with children’s exposure to sports-related gambling ads in 2017 being an average of 0.4 ads per week (13% of all gambling ads seen by children) a significant decrease on the 2011 figures of 1.0 ads per week (31.5% of all gambling ads seen by children).

Furthermore, the majority of adverts for gambling viewed by children were for bingo, lottery and scratchcards.

Commenting on the research, ASA Chief Executive, Guy Parker said:“Protecting children has always been at the heart of our regulation. These findings show that in recent years, children’s exposure to TV ads for alcohol, gambling and food and soft drink products high in fat, salt or sugar is declining.

“We’re not complacent though and we’ll continue to actively monitor and report on this important area of work. Our next focus will be to examine whether the rules are working in the same way online and we’ll report on that later in 2019.”

Undertaking the research, the ASA emphasised it’s seeking to gain a greater understanding of the debate about the effectiveness and the proportionality of the rules that currently restrict scheduling and content, the ASA draws upon data from 2017, a year in which children viewed an average of 161.2 television ads per week.